Platform



T. A. SINDELAR.

PLATFORM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11, 1919.

1,334,409. Patented Mar. 28, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Q JEn/Ur 7770mm dlhde/an T. A. SINDELAH.

PLATFORM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE II. 1919. I 1,334,409. Patented Mar.23,1920.

2 SHEETS-$HEET 2- 17 JzEzzZaf 7770/7705 Slade/0r.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. SINDELAR, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE HYDRAULIC PRESSED STEEL COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO. A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

PLATFORM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all u'lwm it may concern.

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. SmnnLAn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio. have invented a certain new and useful Improven'ient in Platforms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention is a novel construction of platform adapted to rest upon a floor or other flat surface, for the purpose of receiving articles to be moved from one part of a plant or factory to another partthere of; and the object of the invention is to pro vide a sheet metal platform beneath which a low moving truck can be inserted, and then elevated to clear the platform from the ground so that said platform and the articles thereon can be quickly and easily moved. Another object is to provide a platform of this kind which will be simple, composed of few parts, all very strong in themselves, and rigidly assembled, and a still further object is to provide a truck having feet at each end so that the truck will have a four point support.

l/Vith these and certain other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel features of construction and'arrangement, all of which will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

in the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective View of a platform constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is an end vlew; Fig. a is a detail side elevation; Fig. 5 is a section on line Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a section on line 66-Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is an inverted perspective view of one of the supports and lFig. 8 is a view of the blank from which the support is made.

in the practical embodiment of my in vention there is employed a bed plate or platform proper A which is preferably made from a single piece of sheet metal of suitable thickness and of any desired dimensions according to the purposes for which the platform is to be used. The bed plate or platform proper is supported at each side upon trough shaped members B, the sides B thereof converging downwardly as shown,

The depth or height of the trough shaped Patented Mar. 23, 1920.

Serial No. 303.448.

member as a whole will be determined by the character of the truck to be used in connection therewith, and as a rule will be from eight to twelve inches in height. At their upper ends the sides of the trough shaped members are formed with oppositely disposed flanges B and the platform or bed plate. A is rigidly connected to the supporting members by means of rivets C passing through the bed plate and through the flanges B of the supporting member. The bed plate or platform is tansversely corrugated at intervals as shown at D, said corrugations terminating short of the edges of the bed plate or platform thereby leaving a flat marginal portion surroumling the transversely corrugated central portion and the extreme edges of the bed are rolled over or flanged as shown at E thereby imparting strength to the bed plate or platform as a whole. The outer flange B of the supportmg member is made flat inasmuch as it engages the flat marginal portion of the platform but the inner flange is corrugated as shown at B in Fig. 5 in order to accommodate the corrugation D in the bed plate or. platform. The sides of the trough shaped supporting members are corrugated transversely as shown at F in order to impart rigidity to said side members.

It is preferred to )rovide feet beneath the corners of the bed p ate or platform so that there may be a four point support in order to provideagainst uneveness of the floor or ground upon which the device rests and in order to make these feet integral with the trough shaped supporting members I cut anopening G adjacent each end of each trough shaped member, the general contour of this opening being T-shaped and the bottom of the trough shaped member between these. two openings can be pressed upwardly as shown at H thereby elevating the inter mediate portion of the bottom and leaving the end portion the full depth and thereby providing a foot at each corner of the platform. This is accoi'nplished by pressing operation and avoids the necessity of attaching separate feet to the supporting members. It will thus be seen that I provide an exceedingly cheap, simple and du rable platform and that owing to the fact that the three parts of which it is composed are each extremely rigid, the composite structure composed of these rigid members will possess great rigidity and strength as a Whole. This truck as before stated is particularly adapted for use in factories and plants and preferably usable in connection with an elevating and transporting truck which is inserted between the trough shaped supporting members and then elevated so as to lift the supporting members clear of the ground. The platform as a Whole with the articles thereon can then be readily transported to the desired point and the truck is then manipulated to lower the platform until it rests upon the supporting feet when the truck can then be Withdrawn from beneath the platform.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A device of the kind .described comprising a sheet-metal plate a platform and trough shaped supporting members, attached to the plate or platform and spaced apart sufiiciently to permit the introduction of a truck, the intermediate bottom portion of each side member being pressed upwardly whereby a foot is provided at each end of each supporting member.

2. A device of the kind described comprising a plate transversely corrugated, the marginal edges of said plate being fiat, trough shaped supporting members having oppositely disposed flanges one of which is corrugated and the other fiat, the bottom of each trough shaped member having openings produced adjacent the ends the portion of the bottom between the said openings being pressed upwardly as set forth.

3. A device of the kind described comprising a sheet metal plate having a marginal flange, a pair of trough shaped supporting members having oppositely disposed flanges said flanges being united to the sheet metal plate, the intermediate bottom portion of each trough shaped member -being pressed upwardly thereby providing an integralsupporting foot at each end of each trough shaped member. I

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

THOMAS A. SINDELAR. 

